Page 40 - EducationWorld Feb 2021 Low

Cover Story

ECCE: The Heckman Equation • Prioritise investment in quality early childhood education
for at-risk children. All families are under increasing strain;
conomics Nobel laureate (2000) Prof. James J. disadvantaged families are strained to the
EHeckman’s groundbreaking work with a con- limit. They have fewer resources to invest
sortium of economists, psychologists, statisticians in effective early development. Without re-
and neuroscientists shows that early childhood sources such as ‘parent-coaching’ and early
development directly influences economic, health childhood education programs, many at-risk
and social outcomes for individuals and society. children miss the developmental growth that
Adverse early environments create deficits in skills is the foundation for success. They will suffer
and abilities that drive down productivity and in- for the rest of their lives — and all of us will
crease social costs — thereby adding to financial pay the price in higher social costs — and
deficits borne by the public. declining economic fortunes.
“The highest rate of return in early childhood • Develop cognitive and character skills ear-
development comes from investing as early as ly. Invest in the ‘whole child’. Effective early
possible, from birth through age five, in disadvantaged families. childhood education packages cognitive skills with character
Starting at age three or four is too little too late, as it fails to skills such as attentiveness, impulse control, persistence and
recognise that skills beget skills in a complementary and dy- teamwork. Together, cognition and character drive education,
namic way. Efforts should focus on the first years for greatest career and life success — with character development often
efficiency and effectiveness. The best investment is in quality being the most important factor.
early childhood development from birth to five for disadvan- • Provide developmental resources to children and their
taged children and their families,” said Heckman in a famous families. Direct investment in the child’s early development is
statement made in 2012. In numerous advisories to the US complemented by investment in parents and family environ-
government and public, Prof. Heckman recommended efficient ments. Quality early childhood education from birth to age
and effective public investment in early childhood education to five, coupled with parent-coaching, such as home visitation
reduce deficits and strengthen the economy as under. programs for parents and teen mothers, has proven to be
• Investing in early childhood education is a cost-effective effective and warrants more investment.
strategy — even during a budget crisis. Deficit reduction will • Invest, develop and sustain to produce gain. Invest in de-
only come from wiser investment of public and private dol- velopmental resources for at-risk children. Develop their
lars. Data shows that one of the most effective strategies for cognitive and character skills from birth to age five, when it
economic growth is investing in the developmental growth of matters most. Sustain gains in early development with ef-
at-risk young children. Short-term costs are more than offset fective education through to adulthood. Gain more capable,
by the immediate and long-term benefits through reduction in productive and valuable citizens who pay dividends for gen-
the need for special education and remediation, better health erations to come.
outcomes, reduced need for social services, lower criminal Source: https://heckmanequation.org/resource/invest-in-
justice costs and increased self-sufficiency and productivity early-childhood-development-reduce-deficits-strengthen-
among families. the-economy/

to have prepared and certified over to offer remote learning engagement try’s 1.3 million anganwadi centres
300,000 youngest children for entry tools. Therefore, the overall impact (AWCs) established under the Central
into primary education, says the im- of the Covid pandemic on ECCE has government’s Integrated Child Devel-
pact of the protracted lockdown has been harsh with many ECCE centres opment Services (ICDS) programme
been “brutal” for standalone propri- having to shut down permanently,” introduced in 1976.
etorial preschools. says Rajan. However, the prime objective of
“Although some organised sector In this connection, it’s important to AWCs established countrywide is to
ECCE providers including EuroKids note that the heavy damage to early provide nutrition to lactating mothers
swiftly migrated to remote learning childhood education is not restricted and new borns of low-income house-
engagement to provide uninterrupted to the estimated 55,000 privately pro- holds. The quality of early childhood
learning, the demand for online learn- moted preschools that are in the van- education dispensed by under-paid,
ing has been low in the pre-kinder- guard of the nation’s belated ECCE under-trained and usually solitary
garten segment, i.e, playgroups and movement. Private preschools provide AWC workers is rudimentary. More-
nursery, with average demand com- professionally administered ECCE to a over, the country’s one million-plus
ing from kindergarten students. Most mere 5-10 percent of the country’s 165 AWCs have room to accommodate
of the ECCE segment consists of un- million infants in the 0-5 age group. only 80 million of India’s under-5 in-
organised (standalone, proprietorial) The vast majority of youngest chil- fants. Over half don’t receive any for-
pre-primaries with limited resources dren receive basic ECCE in the coun- mal ECCE at all, a colossal waste of

40 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2021